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Directors
There have been eleven directors to take control behind the camera of the official EON Productions James Bond film series. Eon Productions Directors Terence Young Terence Young was the first official director in the series history, responsible for the first two Sean Connery Bond films; his 1962 debut film Dr. No and the 1963 follow-up From Russia with Love. Due to scheduling issues Young was unavailable to direct Goldfinger but he did return to helm Thunderball in 1965. Total Bond films directed: 3 Guy Hamilton When Terence Young was made unavailable to direct the 1964 film Goldfinger, Guy Hamilton was selected to replace him. Goldfinger is widely regarded to be the best Bond film of them all. He was subsequently offered Thunderball but declined due to feeling "creatively drained" but he did return to the director's chair several years later for the final official Connery Bond installment, 1971 film Diamonds Are Forever. He then went on to direct the first two Roger Moore films, Live and Let Die from 1973 and The Man with the Golden Gun from 1974. He was offered the chance to continue and direct The Spy Who Loved Me, but turned it down because at the time he thought he was going to direct the then-upcoming Superman film, a job which in the end fell to Richard Donner. Total Bond films directed: 4 Lewis Gilbert For the 1967 film You Only Live Twice, Lewis Gilbert was chosen to direct. Years later Gilbert would return to the series to helm the film said to rejuvenate the series; 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me. In 1979 he directed the follow-up Moonraker, often seen as the film where Bond "jumped the shark" on account on the climax being set in outer space. Total Bond films directed: 3 Peter R. Hunt Peter R. Hunt, who had worked on the series as a film editor since Dr. No, was promoted to directing duties for George Lazenby's sole Bond role; the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. This was also Hunt's own directorial debut. He offered Diamonds Are Forever as well, but was working on another film at the time. He could only agree to do Diamonds if the production was postponed, which the producers refused to do. As such, hoping to recapture the success of Goldfinger, they rehired Guy Hamilton. Total Bond films directed: 1 John Glen Like Peter Hunt before him, John Glen made his directorial debut with the 1981 film For Your Eyes Only after having served as the film editor on several of the previous films in the franchise. Glen went on to direct more Bond films than any other; the last two Roger Moore films, Octopussy in 1983 and A View to a Kill before helming both of Timothy Dalton's efforts; The Living Daylights in 1987 and Licence to Kill in 1989. It has been said that, if it had been made, the third Dalton Bond film would not have been directed by Glen. Total Bond films directed: 5 Martin Campbell When Bond returned to the screen after a six-year absence in 1995 with GoldenEye starring Pierce Brosnan, New Zealander Martin Campbell was chosen for the job and bringing Bond back. GoldenEye proved a massive success, leading to Campbell being offered the next installment; Tomorrow Never Dies. However Campbell did not want to make two Bond films in a row and chose to direct The Mask of Zorro instead. Years later when Daniel Craig was cast as Bond in Casino Royale Campbell narrowly beat out directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Matthew Vaughn to get back behind the camera. Casino was another huge success and Campbell is credited with successfully launching two new Bond actors and reinventing the series twice. Many fans point to Campbell as the best director the series has ever had. Total Bond films directed: 2 Roger Spottiswoode After Campbell turned down 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies, Roger Spottiswoode was brought in to replace him. Tomorrow turned out to be a very troubled production due to constant on-set rewrites and Spottiswoode reportedly clashing with star Pierce Brosnan. When he was subsequently offered The World Is Not Enough, Spottiswoode claimed that he felt too exhausted and turned it down. Total Bond films directed: 1 Michael Apted For The World Is Not Enough in 1999, EON looked at directors such as Joe Dante and Peter Jackson but ultimately settled on Michael Apted, who said that he took the job because he would never again be offered such a project in his career. He was also considered when it came to Die Another Day but he declined to return. Total Bond films directed: 1 Lee Tamahori Impressed by his films Once Were Warriors, Barbara Broccoli selected Lee Tamahori to helm the twentieth Bond film, Die Another Day in 2002. Tamahori is considered to be possibly the worst director in the series' history on account of Die Another Day's low standing among fans. Total Bond films directed: 1 Marc Forster For the 2008 film Quantum of Solace, the first direct sequel in the series' history, Marc Forster was chosen. Like Tomorrow Never Dies before it, Quantum was rocked by on-set rewrites caused by being filmed during the Writers' Strike. As such, Quantum is considered one of the weakest Bond films and the most poor of Daniel Craig's tenure. Total Bond films directed: 1 Sam Mendes Shortly after Quantum of Solace was released and pre-production began on the next film, Sam Mendes signed on to direct. Throughout the series's brief hiatus caused by MGM's financial struggles, he remained attached to the project which eventually turned out to be the monumental hit Skyfall, finally released in 2012. Mendes publicly stated that he would return his focus to theatre directing afterwards, but was convinced by the producers to return to direct the 2015 film Spectre, making him the first director since John Glen to direct two Bond films back-to-back. Total Bond films directed: 2 Non-Eon Productions Directors William H. Brown Jr. When Casino Royale was adapted into an episode of the television series Climax! in 1954, television director William H. Brown Jr. was the man behind the camera. The Casino Royale Six The 1967 spoof Casino Royale is infamous for having been helmed by six directors. This was because producer Charles K. Feldman felt that it would be interesting to have each of the film's individual segments directed by different people. As such, John Huston, Ken Hughes, Joseph McGrath, Robert Parrish and Val Guest ended up directing different parts of the film, as well as uncredited Richard Talmadge who worked second-unit. Val Guest was said to have refused the offer of being given the unique credit of "co-ordinating director" because he was tasked with filming the scenes which bridged the sequences shot by other directors. Irvin Kershner When Sean Connery returned to the James Bond role in 1983, The Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner was chosen for the job. To date, Kersh is the only American to have directed a Bond film; 1983's Never Say Never Again. Other Films *Alberto de Martino, director of O.K. Connery. *Peter Howitt, director of Johnny English. *Oliver Parker, director of Johnny English Reborn. Category:Real People Category:Directors